Takeaway: Being a spy, influencing the other side is difficult to do and prone to morally questionable decisions.
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is the book that first made John le Carré’s name (or made John le Carré, a pseudonym famous.) John le Carre was a spy who became a writer. At about the same time Ian Fleming was becoming famous with James Bond, he came to prominence. In many ways, he was the anti-Bond.
Bond is known for action and individualism. George Smiley is overweight and a bit dumpy. He is an intellectual and an analyst. Carre’s books are slow and have complex plots. Fleming’s books are much shorter, are much more action based, and idealize the work of a spy.
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold is the first of le Carre’s books I have re-read. And it reminds me much how soul-deadening le Carre makes intelligence work. There is some action and understanding of the west being on the right side of the cold war. But that doesn’t mean that the west is always right in its actions. John le Carre, if he had not read Niebuhr, he at least understood the basic concepts that Niebuhr wrote about in the Irony of American History.
I also enjoy the little jabs that le Carre always has for the Americans in his books. The spies of the Circus are partners with the Americans but don’t always like the Americans or how they work.
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold is about a spy that is enticed to go over to the bad guys (although it isn’t clear initially which set of bad guys he is defecting with) to give a false trail. You don’t know until the end why the false trail is being given.
Smiley is only a minor character in this book. But his sense of right and wrong, which is tested throughout the series, is that this operation is wrong. In many ways, the result of the mission proves Smiley right. There is some good that comes out of it. But the means of getting that right is probably wrong, which seems to be the broader point of the book.
It has been several years since I read le Carre, and I had forgotten the hopelessness of the series. In many ways, I am not sure how you write about intelligence work in a way that is both real and not hopeless. When I read le Carre, I want to become a pacifist. Then I read history and am reminded why I have not become a pacifist.
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